First Day of Class
by RavenBlackwing
Summary: The first day of classes for Harry and friends in their Fifth year.


*Before you read:

1. This is a continuation of the story found in The Reunion.  One could even think of this as being the next chapter.

2.  I wrote this a long time ago, back before the fifth book came out.  Basically I'd gotten impatient and began to write bits of my own version of the fifth book.  So here's a sort of alternate universe written in some semblance of the style of JK Rowling.  I'm posting it because I think its halfway decent and I'm curious as to what others think.  So please let me know what you think, good or bad, I want to hear it.

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Harry Ron and Hermoine sat down in the familiar classroom. The class was alive with whispers, students buzzing with excitement.  No one had yet seen the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.  He or she had been conspicuously absent at the opening of the year banquet, and all the students were eager to meet him or her.  No Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had lasted for more than a year at Hogwarts.  They'd had everything from a stuttering servant of the dark lord himself, to a werewolf, to a famous Auror who had turned out to be another servant of Voldemort's in disguise, not that anyone besides Harry, Ron, and Hermoine knew that last bit.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and have Mad-Eye Moody again," whispered Seamus Finnegan. "He was alright by me."

"I'm still holding out for a vampire," said Dean Thomas. "That would be so cool!"

"I don't know," said Ron turning to Harry. "I wouldn't mind it if Professor Lupin came back.  I think he's the best we've had so far."

"Whadya mean?" Seamus said.  "Moody was by far the best we learned a lot of really useful stuff from him."

Harry would've argued that they'd learned a good deal from Professor Lupin as well, but just then, the door creaked and all vocal speculation immediately came to a halt.  The class waited in silence, every pair of eyes fixed with curiosity on the door.  It gave another creak, then swung open and in strode a middle aged bespectacled wizard with long stark white hair.  He was wearing deep maroon robes and carrying a black satchel that was slung over his shoulder.  His face was tan, weathered and creased, and his eyes, framed by his wire rimmed glasses, were a surprising blue. He unslung his satchel, set it on the desk, and peered through his glasses at the raptly silent class.

"A bit over attentive aren't we?" he said finally.  His voice had a ring in it that was younger than his appearance.  "I was under the impression that you'd all be going on about your summer adventures the first lesson and I'd barely be able to get a word in edgewise."  He looked around again.  "But since you're all so eager to learn, we'll just get cracking then shall we?  Kindly open your books to page three hundred and sixty four while I call attendance."

"Are you a vampire?" came the sudden timid voice of Neville Longbottom.  He had been rather concerned ever since Dean had voiced his theory.  The new Professor smiled slightly amused.

"Ah! So you _can_ talk.  I had been mildly worried that you all had been placed under a _mutus_ curse.  No young man, I am not a vampire."

Dean looked slightly disappointed, but Neville seemed quite relieved.

"My name is Edward Evermory.  That's Professor Evermory to all of you.  I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year.  Now for the attendance call."

"Have you ever turned anyone into a white ferret?" asked Seamus.

"No," Professor Evermory responded, looking confused.  "No I can't say that I have."

Now it was Ron's turn to seem disappointed. 

"If there are no other questions, might I proceed with the attendance check?" Professor Evermory waited a moment, as though he actually expected someone to say something, and then continued with the roll call.  He did not, to Harry's surprise stop at the name 'Potter, Harry' as most teachers did when first taking attendance.  Instead he continued straight through the list as though he'd been teaching the class for months until he reached the last name: Weasley, Ronald. Emory looked up at Ron.

"Weasley eh? You'll be the youngest of Molly and Arthur's sons right?"

"Er…yeah." Said Ron going slightly red at the ears. Emory continued to survey him.

"I've worked with your older brother, Bill.  Told me you can be a bit cheeky, or was that the twins…"

Ron began to go even redder as half the class turned to look at him.

"Now, on with the lesson.  If you have all opened your books to the correct page you should be looking at a heading that reads Jinxes: How to use them, how to recognize them, and how to break them.  Miss Granger, if you would please read aloud from the book."

*          *          *

The Gryffindors headed out to Care of Magical Creatures after break.  From the castle steps they could see Hagrid's enormous form waiting for them.  The sky was overcast and unnaturally dark for midday.  The air was heavy with the smell of a coming storm.  Everyone was hoping feverently that it wouldn't break until they were back indoors.  No one was particularly inclined to wait out the rain in Hagrid's tiny cabin with the Slytherins, least of all Ron, Harry and Hermoine.

As they neared the cabin they could see Hagrid was grinning at them. 

"Got a real treat fer you all today," he was saying rubbing his textbook sized hands together in excitement. "A real rarity, I bet none o' you 'ave ever seen one o' these before."

"Probably because our parents have enough wits about them to keep us away from such monsters" came Malfoy's sneering voice.  The Slytherins had arrived.

Harry was happy to see that they were looking just as anxiously up at the sky as the rest of them. At least the weather was of some use, he thought.  I would distract the lot from their usual hobby of being extraordinarily nasty.

Harry thought it was rather unfair for Malfoy to say this.  After all, they hadn't even seen what Hagrid had in store, it might not be monstrous at all, though, knowing Hagrid and his affinity for unpleasant creatures, it probably was.

Fortunately, however, Hagrid was too excited to bother with Malfoy at the moment.

"Everyone here?" he asked ignoring Malfoy completely.  "Alrigh' then. Today we 'ave a guest, an old friend.  She went ter Hogwarts herself not too long ago.  She's a professional gatherer, an travels all over the world seein interesting creatures and the like."

As Hagrid spoke a dark-haired witch came out from behind his cabin and strode smiling towards the class.  She seemed a lot smaller than Harry remembered, perhaps it was just that she was standing next to Hagrid.

"It's the witch from Diagon Alley!" Ron hissed in Harry's ear. "The one who bowled over Malfoy for us! Reckon Hagrid's talkin about that horse she was riding?"

"This," said Hagrid "is Raven Blackwing.  Knows a fair bit about Magical Creatures she does, and she's brought something I think you'll all like."

"Thankyou, Hagrid" said the witch.  "When I received Dumbledore's summons I had an idea that I just couldn't resist.  I thought you all might like to meet Forth, so I brought him with me." She grinned and whistled.  From over the forbidden forest came a huge black mass that seemed to be galloping over the treetops in a cloud of smoke and flame.  As it neared they could see it was an enormous winged horse.  It plowed towards them at great speed and came to a sudden violent halt on the ground so close that several Slytherins jumped backwards.  The creature must've been eight feet tall, its coat was soot black and had the texture of wrought iron.  Its eyes were flaming red and smoke and sparks flew from its nostrils.  As it hit the ground the cloud of smoke and flame dissipated, it folded its great black wings and pawed the ground restlessly.

"This" said Blackwing to the awed crowd "Is Forth, my uh…horse."  She walked over to the beast and stroked its neck.  "A friend of mine bred him, and I took such a liking to him that I bought him for myself"  she smiled disarmingly at the assembled class.  "You needn't be afraid. He's about as dangerous as Hagrid over here, just don't rush him, and watch his hooves.  Don't want to get stepped on."

Slowly, _very_ slowly, the class edged closer.  Harry wasn't very reassured by the witch's claims. Forth certainly looked dangerous.  The beast tossed its head eyes blazing, and Harry was reminded strongly of Buckbeak the hippogriff.  Blackwing cast about and her gaze landed on Neville Longbottom.

"You there. What's your name?" she asked.

Neville cowered; he always avoided volunteering in class if he could help it.

"N-N-Neville L-longbottom, ma'am," he stuttered fearfully.

"Well Neville you're going to help me bridle Forth today."

Neville blanched, Harry seriously thought he was going to pass out and hoped very hard that he wouldn't.  (The Slytherins would be drooling all over themselves for a chance to harass him.)

"Don't worry Neville."  Blackwing said when she noticed that Neville wasn't moving.  "I'll be right here.  It's completely safe.  Otherwise I wouldn't ask you to help me.  Come on now."  As she continued to coax, Neville slowly approached the animal.  He was shaking so badly Harry thought it a wonder that he didn't just fall over.  Blackwing pulled out her wand and conjured a leather bridle out of thin air.  She took Neville's hand and showed him where to hold the bridle.

"Hold the bridle out like so and tell him to lower his head."  She instructed.

Neville was frozen.

"Just say 'down'."  Harry could just hear her whisper in Neville's ear.

"Down." Neville squeaked.   Forth turned his fearsome head and looked very hard at the trembling boy before him.

"A tad louder Mr. Longbottom, I don't think he caught that," said Blackwing, her hand on Neville's shoulder.

"Down." He said a little louder.  The great beast shook its great head looked from its master to the boy holding the bridle and lowered its head with a soft snort.  Neville seemed emboldened by this, he approached the creature without Miss Blackwing's prompting and slipped the bridle over its head.

"Very good, very good. Now to get him to take the bit you've got to stick your finger in the corner of his mouth like so."  Blackwing shoved Neville's thumb into Forth's mouth.  Harry thought the beast was going to bite him, and by the look on the Slytherin's faces he could tell they would love nothing more than for the magnificent creature to chomp off Neville's whole hand, but it didn't.  To everyone's surprise the bit slipped into its mouth without incident.  Blackwing showed Neville and the class how to fasten the straps and Forth was bridled.  She handed Neville a rag to wipe the saliva off his hands mentioning casually that if he let it stay on his skin too long it would cause painful burns.  Turning she addressed the class.

"Winged horses are especially hard to handle.  Generally, only a strong witch or wizard can manage one.  They aren't usually kept as pets because they require a lot of territory and can't survive a sedentary life.  I can keep Forth because I'm always traveling, because of my job.  Now he's not as fast or maneuverable as a Firebolt,"

Was it Harry's imagination? Or did she look his way when she said that?

"…but he can provide for an exciting ride.  Anyone fancy a go?"

Most of the class became suddenly interested in the ground immediately below their feet.  No one seemed particularly willing to mount the fiery steed and they hoped to avoid catching Miss Blackwing's eye.  Harry was examining the hem of his robes when he heard a familiar voice say.

"I'll do it.  If everyone else is too frightened."  Draco Malfoy had just volunteered.  Harry had a sinking suspicion that he was trying to disrupt the class again.

"Your name young man?"  Blackwing asked.

"Draco Malfoy," he replied importantly, Blackwing smiled at him and gave him a leg up.  Harry might've imagined it, but he could've sworn he saw Malfoy blush.  She conjured reigns and handed them to him.

"Just kick him gently," she said.  "You can steer with these and when you want to come back down just whistle."

Malfoy must've kicked a little hard because the beast suddenly reared back on its haunches and launched with a great flap of its wings into the air.  Harry and Ron grinned at each other when they saw him struggling to stay on as Forth dove and soared all over the paddock.

"He's dropped the reigns."  Blackwing said to the class matter-of-factly, following Malfoy's every move. "Forth now knows he doesn't know what he's doing. He's going to take young Mr. Malfoy for a bit of a ride."

Again Harry thought he caught her glancing his way.

"He's not especially temperamental," she continued, gaze focused on fire-horse and rider once more. "but he hates it when you drop the reigns."

The class "ooh"ed and "ahh"ed as Forth preformed a series of loops in mid-air trailing fire and smoke, Malfoy hanging on for dear life.  Blackwing must've decided that he'd had enough, because she whistled, and immediately the horse veered back towards them and returned to the ground with a shower of sparks.

"Well done, Mr. Malfoy."  Blackwing cheered, helping him down. Malfoy's usually neat blonde hair was tousled, and his face was bright pink.  Harry thought he looked as though he'd just gotten off a particularly violent muggle roller coaster.  "Brilliant of you to drop the reins like that so the class could see how a horse like Forth would react."

Malfoy muttered something intelligible in reply and hurried back into the Slytherin crowd trying to smooth his hair back into place.

That is all for now. What's your opinion?  Does anyone care for more?  Because I've written it, just haven't posted it.


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